Layer by Layer
by iKoffeeholic
Summary: Two nerdy social pariahs at Konoha University, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, find love in each other through unlikely twists and turns.


**Layer by Layer**

_Love is Like a Rubik's Cube, No?_

A SasuNaru Drabble

Composed by: **iKoffeeholic**

**iKoffeeholic's Word:**

Cube-freak here! Just wanted to say how this is NOT how actual cubers act. The cube is a joy and yet a painful thing to use in the bedroom—unless used as foreplay like Naruto and Sasuke are about to do. ^-^ And the acronym LBL can also stand for "love boys love". Do that if you're a fan!

**Warning:** OOC Naruto and Sasuke

**Layer by Layer**

"Sasuke, could ya quit playing with your Rubik's cubes?" Naruto asked with a sigh. "All that clicking and snapping's driving me nuts, and I have a term paper due tomorrow!" The blonde was on the verge of slamming his laptop on the carpet.

The raven was on the bed twisting the evening away with his favourite hobby. Because he shared the same regard for his own report card as well, he relented and let the cube roll onto the pillow.

"Sorry, Naruto," he said.

Naruto swivelled around his chair and rested his glasses on his keyboard. "It's fine, Sasuke. I know you only cube this much when you're stressed." He crawled onto the bed and hovered over Sasuke. "Maybe, if you be a good boy and let me finish another paragraph"—the blonde leaned in to brush a quick kiss over his lips—"I'll release some stress with you."

Sasuke slipped off his glasses and put them on the night stand. After returning his lover's kiss, he promised not to make any more noise to keep the peace. Gladly, Naruto returned to his computer to finish his work.

He and his boyfriend, the genius Sasuke Uchiha had been together for about five months since starting Konoha University. Naruto was quite fortunate to get into such an institution since his parents didn't have the funds to send him there. Taking extra care to gather all the scholarships he could was the only route, not that it was difficult. Naruto Uzumaki, despite his tendency to procrastinate near deadlines, kept a high grade point average.

Unlike his boyfriend, he never cared for perfection. To Naruto, all that mattered was the grade. In Sasuke's eyes, the knowledge earned was far more important. "Failure teaches people more than success ever will," he'd often chide his love.

_A little background, if you will…_

The two intellectuals met each other in a very strange way. In their first week at Konoha University, things didn't go their way. Naruto had dropped his glasses in the campus café, and Sasuke had lost one of his beloved twisty puzzles—a brand-new megaminx. An hour earlier, the raven was twisting away with his right hand as he sipped his iced coffee in his left. That wasn't something he did for attention; he just did it because it relaxed him. The onlookers that happened to catch a glance at him completing a solve were completely irrelevant. Even the girls that fawned over how smart he was were disregarded. As soon as he took care of the last layer with a final snap, the men's room beckoned Sasuke's bladder. Answering nature's call, he left his minx on the windowsill without a thief in mind. That's when the blonde entered.

Naruto sat himself down at the table Sasuke had just left. He made it his mission to finish reading the first five chapters of his Psychology 101 textbook before the week was over. It was just a class on how 'average' people thought, so it would've been an easy grade right? Most certainly not—Naruto wasn't much socialised, so 'normal people' were still a mystery and worth taking a course in handling them. Into his reading, he decided to take off his glasses and rest them on a napkin. Reading text so close up made the words appear a rather distorted grey.

As he flipped the page, he began to daydream and his eyes drifted to the windowsill. There it was, a hallmark of genius. Who had it before him? Was it fresh out of the box? Had the thing been solved before? Was the owner a student at Konoha U?

Naruto never thought that anyone would own such a puzzle, let alone be able to solve one, himself having only a mangled classic Rubik's cube with the stickers threatening to flake off any year now. He didn't bother doing a double-take, as that would make him look suspicious. He took the dodecahedron in his hands and scrambled its faces into a mess of colours. Now the problem would be putting it back together. He understood the logic of such a puzzle, but putting the logic into action was a completely different animal. Overjoyed on the inside, he closed his book and walked out of the café with his new puzzle in his pocket.

The raven returned from the restroom relieved, but his relief was short lived once he came back to his table with no megaminx in sight. He quietly panicked as to not attract attention. No one would really care about his situation. He was just a nerd, a social pariah that no one would ever invest their time into. But no matter, those who mocked him will need his help some time soon. Calculus and physics don't teach themselves. And being paid to do the homework of others, though dangerous, creates a fair income, as he was told by his brother Itachi, a successful alumnus of Konoha University.

He slumped in his seat, wondering who on earth would take his newly prized possession. Into his sulk, he finally noticed the pair of glasses sitting on a napkin. They most certainly weren't his. His own pair of spectacles was tucked away in his dorm room since he decided to try out the pair of contacts his mum had offered him. Perhaps these honey-brown glasses were a clue to who took the minx. Sasuke never fancied mystery novels, but he was willing to solve this case, not a cubing pun intended.

To prevent them from scratching, he wrapped the napkin around them and tucked them in his jacket pocket.

It had been a week, and classes already started. Still, there was no sign of the megaminx anywhere on campus. Naruto had noticed that he lost his glasses as soon as he went back to his dorm that day, so he posted signs on the campus bulletin boards, but no one replied. It looked as though he'd be stuck squinting at the board not being able to grasp the full meaning of his lessons. He didn't have enough money for another pair.

Sasuke stopped worrying about his megaminx. It was only twenty thousand yen, so he could easily buy another. However, he didn't want his father complaining about unnecessary expenses on his credit card statement. But what was another twenty thousand yen to the Uchiha family? That was roughly how much the family business made every second.

The Uchiha logged into his eBay and clicked 'buy another'. A new minx arrived two days later, but those honey-brown glasses had yet to find their owner. Eventually, luck was struck. In a calculus lecture as he was scribbling away at a few meaningless functions in the margins of his notebook, he heard a familiar clicking. No, no one else could make that sound. It wasn't the sound of a world-record-breaking typist jotting down notes on their laptop.

He looked back and saw a blonde with his hands under his desk.

"Uzumaki, would you kindly provide the class with the answer?" the professor crooned out of spite.

Startled, the blonde let the minx slip from his hand and hit the linoleum. He squinted at the board and retreated with a brief "I don't know the answer".

The professor vented an agitated sigh. "Honestly, this was very simple. With your transcript Uzumaki, surely that would have been a no-brainer. Don't let me doubt you."

The blonde used his foot to bring the puzzle back under his desk and folded his arms to create a pillow for his head. Focusing his hearing on the young man, Sasuke thought he heard faint whimpering.

Uzumaki…Uzumaki… He swore that he saw that name somewhere. Passing the bulletin board heading to the math building, he noticed a sign advertising a lost pair of glasses. Could he be the one?

After class was over, Sasuke caught the same blonde sitting alone near the water fountain twirling the twelve-sided puzzle in his hands, wiping tears away from his whiskery cheeks. He was too nervous to introduce himself, but it wasn't very often that someone else wielded a twisty puzzle of any kind in their hands. So he summoned a bit of courage and bravery and sat next to him.

"Hey," Sasuke said shyly.

"Uh, hi…" Naruto looked away. He wasn't used to being in such close contact with strangers.

Sasuke pulled out the glasses and cracked an awkward smile. "Would you happen to know the person who owns these?"

When the blonde turned around, his face was set alight. "My glasses!" he cried. "Did you find them in the café?"

Sasuke's smile straightened and he told him a gentle yes. Then it came to his lost possession. "I lost something there too."

The blonde asked, "Is this yours? I'm sooo sorry that I took it." Naruto held up the megaminx for Sasuke to see. "I didn't mean to be a thief. I just got a little excited and I left my glasses behind when I found it."

"It's fine. You can keep it,"—he rumbled around in his messenger bag to pull out his new one—"I already have another one."

Naruto flashed a bashful smile to match the one Sasuke was giving him. He didn't feel frightened like he felt with 'normal' people. Sasuke had this aura that made him feel…good on the inside. But he was far too good-looking to be sitting next to him like this. Why on earth would someone sacrifice the chance to be a part of the in-crowd just to make one nerdy friend? The answer was beyond Naruto's comprehension.

"Why're ya being so nice?" Naruto asked. "You wouldn't wanna hang out with me. I-I'm a nerd. No one likes the smart kids." As the nervousness coursed through his body, his honey-brown glasses landed in the fountain with a plop. "Great, my glasses fell into the fountain!"

Sasuke rolled up his sleeve and reached his long slender arm into the current before the glasses were swept away. He out a red cloth and dried them off, only to place them on Naruto's face, which in turn made his whiskers face away under a scarlet blush.

"This is a university. Smart kids rule here, and the dumb ones get their tuition wasted because they get wasted," the raven joked, making Naruto force a chuckle. "But if you didn't notice," He took a pause and looked away for a moment. "I'm kind of a nerd too. 'Popular kids' don't get caught with twisty-brain puzzles."

"Oh, that makes since," said Naruto. "I'm taking Psychology 101, but I still don't understand humans. And I didn't catch your name! I guess it's strange starting a conversation with a person whose name you haven't even learned yet."

The raven formally introduced himself, and he officially learned the blonde's name in return.

"Well, Uzumaki, do you cube?"

"What?"

Sasuke gestured a twisting motion with his hands. "Cubing, you know, solving twisty puzzles as fast as you can?"

Naruto relaxed some more and agreed. "Yeah, but I've never timed myself, and I never bothered to try any other puzzles. I only have a three-by-three cube and the stickers are coming off."

Sasuke's smile grew wider. Never had he been so successful in finding a friend. The only thing that could ruin this was telling him about his inner desires. No, Sasuke didn't care for girls. In his mind they didn't exist. However, Naruto was growing more and more adorable by the second.

"I have all shapes and sizes. You can come by my dorm if you want to see them," he said.

Naruto nodded his head, making his spiky blonde hair shake up and down as if it belonged to a plush lion's mane.

**LBL**

Back at his dorm, Sasuke was preparing for Naruto's visit. He made up his bed, swept the floor, and organized his text books on his shelf. His contacts were irritating his eyes, and he didn't have the desire to impress anyone with his Uchiha blessings, so he discarded the offending lenses and put on his thick-rimmed glasses. The cool touch of the frames against his face brought him comfort. At least Naruto would get to see the real him.

He knelt by his bedside to pull out his box of polyhedron puzzles. In it he had cubes squared one to seven, conjoined twin cubes, shiny reflective ones with uneven slices, ones missing their centres, pyramids, and one that wasn't even a cube, but a ball. On top of that, he had a stackmat timer that showed the wear and tear of a serious cuber.

In waiting for his new friend, he quickly scrambled his four-by-four and went to solving it. Instantly, the centres came together, the edges and corners following after. Upon the last snap for the final layer, there was a knock on the door.

Sasuke put down the cube and answered the knocker. Of course, it was the lovely blonde. It couldn't have been anyone else; Sasuke hadn't made friends with anyone else on campus except the dean who was trying to drain a little charity from the Uchiha family.

"Come on in, Uzumaki," he said to him. "My cubes are on the bed."

"Okay. And you wear glasses." Naruto sat himself on his bed and rambled through the box. He was fascinated by the sight of them all. Not once did he view Sasuke as crazy or weird for having sixteen, seventeen, eighteen puzzles in his possession. He simply thought of him as interesting.

"I really like your collection, Uchiha. It's nice," Naruto complemented.

"Thanks. How about you scramble that three-by-three and show me what you can do."

Naruto grabbed the cube and examined it carefully. They made cubes without stickers on them? Convenient so there would be no cheating unless you took it apart, but seriously? Naruto had never held such a streamlined puzzle in his hands. He used his hands to turn the faces so the colours would be far away from each other.

Sasuke enjoyed watching his delicate tanned fingers work at the puzzle. Sneakily he held his stackmat in his lap, timing the blonde's solve. Naruto attacked the green side first, fumbling through the middle and taking his time with the top. When he finally solved the blue, Sasuke touched his hands to the timer to stop it.

"Three minutes and twenty-eight point two seconds," he told him flatly. "Not bad."

"What's wrong with that?" Naruto questioned worriedly.

Sasuke reset the timer. "Nothing at all. I can help you get faster if you want."

"How fast can you get? Most people don't even understand how their solved." The blonde vented a shallow sigh.

"Hn. The world record is under ten seconds, but I can do it under thirty—twenty if I score a PLL skip. I'll show you."

Naruto handed him the cube back looking confused. He asked Sasuke, "What's a PLL skip?"

"That's cuber jargon for not having to fix the last layer," Sasuke told him.

The Uchiha held his hands on his stackmat until the light turned green. The cube jumped up with his hands, and in elegant snaps and twists, the only thing left was the last layer after some seconds passed. When the cube returned to his lap completely solved, he stopped the timer and handed it to Naruto.

He was shocked. "Twenty-five seconds?! How's that even possible?"

"There's this thing called algorithms. They're shortcuts to solving these puzzles," Sasuke said. "When paired with finger triggers, they dramatically drop your time."

"Can you really teach me how to do that?" Naruto asked with a sympathetic look in his sparkly blue eyes.

Sasuke patted him on the head. "Sure. I'll help you master them all if that's what you'd like."

Unlike most tales of love, these two didn't immediately hit it off. It took time for them to come forward with their feelings. Half of the semester went by, and it wasn't until a late Saturday night of anime watching that they actually confessed.

Eventually, when a financial hardship struck Naruto's family, Sasuke let him move in as his roommate. From there, they had a patch of personal growth. Naruto and Sasuke began to explore their desires in the bedroom sometime into their dating. They realised that they actually were human beings, but with more unique quirks. And ever since then, the world became divided into two types of people—them and everyone else.

**LBL**

A final sentence was typed, and Naruto stretched his arms to the ceiling to celebrate his finished work.

"Okay, Sasuke. You've been a good boy," he cooed to his love.

"Glad you noticed," he smirked. The raven dug into his puzzle box for two cubes. "Now whoever finishes first gets to top," he said, tossing one Naruto's way.

The blonde sighed a sigh of tiredness. "Fine. But we both know who's going to win this cubing war." He placed a kiss on his cheek.

No need for stackmats there. Simply whoever presented a solved cube first got to enjoy the pleasure of sheathing their cock in the warmth of the other's tight walls. They scrambled each other's cubes and began their battle. In an instant, the victory had already been declared.

"I win, Sasuke!"

Sasuke put down his cube and glanced at his watch. "About eighteen seconds, and you forced a PLL skip!"

"You're making it seem like I cheated," Naruto laughed. "You just don't wanna bottom for me, do you?"

The raven pulled of his tee and jeans, leaving him only in his smiley-faced boxers. He cupped Naruto's whiskered cheeks with his hands and pressed his lips against his. Naruto casually pushed him down on the bed as he probed his tongue deeper into his mouth.

"Yes, I want you to top me, Naruto," Sasuke whispered as seductively as he knew how. "It'd be less strain on both of us since gravity doesn't push down on you as much."

Naruto only stripped himself of his shirt, since he was already in his briefs. A damp stain had already formed on the front pouch of them. He forced open the nightstand drawer to get out the lube and condoms for their stress relief activity. Never had he imagined he'd be getting laid in life—by another man. He was madly in love with Sasuke, and he'd never give him up for anyone else. In his blue eyes, there would be no one to match the quirks, wits, and heart, (and sexiness) of Sasuke Uchiha.

He placed the lube and condom on the pillow next to Sasuke's head. They had to work themselves up before they suited up for the big moment.

Their tongues roamed passionately and wildly over each other as their fingers tangled in each other's hair. Hips rocked back in forth, grinding growing members and rubbing chest to chest. After Naruto broke their kiss, he trailed little pink love bites down his pale neck and onto his chest. Sasuke moaned as his nipples were being given such attention from a warm, wet tongue.

"Oh…N-Naruto…" he breathed. "I need you in me…"

In one swift move, those smiley-faced boxers were divorced from his body and abandoned on the floor. Between the raven's creamy-white thighs was a rising erection that was growing purpler by the moment. Naruto dined upon the delicacy and bobbed his head up and down, humming rhythms that drove Sasuke mad. The raven felt as if his toes were about to break off at the bone since they were being curled so hard. He sunk his teeth into his pillow to muffle his pleasure so the RA wouldn't come banging on their door to ruin their fun. Even when it was muffled by a pillow, Naruto adored the sound of his name coming from Sasuke's throat.

Before he could release anything, Naruto came of Sasuke's cock with a pop of his lips. His orange briefs joined Sasuke's boxers on the floor, and his equally raging cock met his lover's as he dove in for another kiss.

In a quick tease, Sasuke eagerly grabbed for Naruto and began to stroke their members together with his hand. It was a pleasure like no other, seeing someone succumb to your touch and reciprocating in the same manner.

He pawed the other pillow for the lube and handed it to Naruto. Once he coated his fingers with enough of it, he parted his lover's legs and pushed his knees toward his elbows. One finger disappeared between his porcelain, rosy cheeks, making the raven writhe and moan as it made room for the other digits that would follow. Soon, three fit quite comfortably, which left the raven longing to be filled with Naruto's cock.

"Enter me now, Naruto. I'm gonna cum soon," he begged.

Putting on the condom, Naruto whispered in his ear, "Don't worry, Sasuke. I'll take you to Kingdom Cum." That pun earned him a stinging slap on the back.

"Quit being such a tease!"

Naruto lined himself up with his entrance and gingerly pushed himself. Underneath him his lover twitched and squirmed to adjust to the sensation, but eventually he relaxed and unleashed delicious noises.

Now an intelligent beast with two backs, they rocked back and forth in a steady rhythm. Sasuke's face contorted as Naruto went in and out. Occasionally, he pulled his face closer to his to gather a few tender kisses despite the sweat dampening his hair and running down his whiskers.

"You love it went I'm inside you, don't you, Sasuke?" Naruto hissed between thrusts. Sasuke couldn't answer with a yes or a no. Instead, he let out more lovely moans for Naruto's ears to take in.

They began to near the peak of their stress relief, for neither of them could hold in their loads much longer. Once his thrusts became syncopated and less forceful, Naruto finally released his warm white liquid into the condom. Sasuke's pearly cum splattered beautifully on their stomachs.

Out of breath, the raven managed to say, "Yes, I love it when you're in me. Hurts, but I love you."

Naruto bent down for one last kiss and vacated Sasuke's walls. Then Sasuke tossed aside the pillow he was clutching.

"And that was four minutes and fifty-seven point two seconds," he smiled as he flashed Naruto the stackmat.

"You timed us having sex?!" he hissed. "What the hell, Sasuke?!" The blonde tried to attack his love, but his stamina had been drained from the activity they enjoyed.

Sasuke put the stackmat back in the box with his beloved puzzles and wrapped his arm around Naruto. "Just wanted to make sure that your cubing times weren't the only things getting closer to zero," he jested.

And yes, the two did slumber away the night peacefully in each other's arms, for they were the world all to each other.


End file.
